Carpet-cleaning machine



7(No Model.)

J. L. WAGNER.

GARBET CLEANING MACHINE. No. 445,209. Patented Jan. 27, 1891.

WITNESSES. 3 1 //vv/vr0/? 3+, L9. JZfh/n/L. warl c ner,

7 E 31 ATTORNEYS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN L. IVI-KGNER, OF "ERRE IIAUTE, INDIANA.

CARPET-CLEANING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 445,209, dated January 27, 1891.

Application filed September 1, 1890- Serial No. 863,713. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN L. WAGNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Terre Ilaute, in the county of Vigo and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Carpet-Cleaning Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my said invention is to produce a machine by which carpets may be effectually cleaned without removing them from the floor; and it principally consists in combining with a series of beat-crs a suctionfan adapted to gather the dust as it rises inside the case and discharge it at a distant point. I

It further consists in certain details of construction and arrangements of parts, as will be hereinafter more particularly described and claimed.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, which are made a part hereof, and on which similar letters of reference indicate similar parts, Figure l is a side elevation of a machine embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a rear elevation; Fig. 3, a central vertical sectional view, and Fig. 4 an under side plan.

In said drawings, the portions marked A represent the case or frame of the machine; B B, rock-shafts carrying the beaters; O, a shaft arranged, preferably, transversely of the rock-shafts, by means of which they are operated; D, a main driving or crank shaft, and E the fan.

The casing or frame A is preferably formed of galvanized iron; Its lower end or side is open and in operation rests on the carpet. Its size may be according to the work to be done; but I have found twenty-four inches wide and thirty inches long to be a desirable size for common use. Its sides taper upwardly to the top, as shown, and upon its top is mounted the suction-fan.

The rock-shafts B and B rest in bearings in the casing A. near its extreme sides, and also near the bottom open end. Arms 11 I) extend out from these rocleshafts toward each other and interlace, as shown most plainly in Fig. 4. Springs B are secured to the rockshafts, and are adjusted to hold them in that position that the fingers or beaters will be in contact with the carpet except when forcibly raised, and will operate to bring said fingers or heaters down onto the carpet with considerable force, when they are allowed to escape from the device by which they are raised. This, as will be readily understood, serves, when the rock-shafts are rapidly rotated and let escape, to effectually beat all the dust out of the carpet ready to be taken up by the fan and blown away. Upon the ends of said rock-shafts, next to shaft 0, are secured projecting arms Z), with which corresponding projections or arms 0 c on said shaft 0 are adapted to engage, as will be presently described.

The shaft 0 is secured in bearings on the outside of the casing A near where the ends of the rock-shafts B B come through said casing, and it is provided with two projections 0 c,which engage as said shaft 0 is revolved with the projections b on said rockshafts. As will be readily understood, this operates to rock the rock-shafts, raising them as long as the projections are in engagement; but as quick as the projections or arms on the rock-shaft escape from engagement with those on said shaft 0 the spiings 011 said rock-shafts will operate to return them to their former position, throwing the arms or heaters thereon forcibly against the carpet, as before stated. The projections on the shaft C are preferably substantially oppositely arranged, so that first one and then the other of the rock-shafts is raised, making the operation alternative-that is, first one set of beaters will strike the carpet and then the other. This arrangement, however, is only a matter of preference and is not essential to my invention.

The crank-shaft or main driving-shaft D is preferably mounted in bearings near the top of the casing A just below the fan, as shown. It has an ordinary hand-crank D, by which it may be turned. It also has mounted thereon a belt-wheel or gear-wheel, by which the fan may be driven through a belt E, and a belt-wheel (or crank) by which through a belt 0 (or a pitman) the shaft 0 may be driven. The 1ast-named devices being common and well-known devices for the purpose, may be varied in construction and arrangement, as desired, without departing from my invention.

The fan E is or may be any ordinary construction of suction-fan, and is preferably mounted upon the top of the casing A with its receiving-opening leadinginto the interior of said casing, and its discharging-opening leading off to the point where it is desired to discharge the dust. It is most convenient for my purpose to connect this discharging-opening with a long flexible tube or hose, which may be carried through a window, so as to discharge the dust outside the building.

In operation my machine is placed, con1- mencing, preferably, at one corner of the room, successively over different portions of carpet substantially equal to its size. It is operated where first. set down until that portion of the carpet is thoroughly beaten and cleaned. Then it is moved and a succeeding portion beaten and cleaned, and so on until the entire carpet has been gone over. The discharging-opening to the fan being, as above stated, of a flexible character, the dust may be discharged at any desirable point notwithstanding that the machine is moved about.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is j 1. The combination, in a carpet-beating machine, of a casing having an open bottom side arranged to rest upon a carpet on the floor, beaters arranged within said casing above and in close proximity to said open lower side, mechanism for operating said beaters, and a suction-fan arranged upon said casing having its receiving-opening communicating with the interior of said casing and its dischargingopening leading to the outside to where it is desired to discharge the dust, substantially as beaters, a spring attached to the rock-shaft and operating to force said beaters into contact with the carpet over which the machine is placed, and mechanism operating reversely to the sprin g,which periodically engages therewith and becomes disengaged therefrom.

4. The combination, in a carpet-beating machine, of the casin g, a rock-shaft or rock-shafts mounted within said casin g an d provided with beaters, a spring attached to each rock-shaft, arranged to force it back to position where the beaters will operate on the carpet, an arm or projection also on each rock-shaft, and a second shaft arranged transversely to said rock-shafts and provided with an arm or projection for each rock shaft, which as said second shaft revolves engages with the corresponding arm or projection on the adjacent rock-shaft, whereby several rock-shafts may be operated from one second shaft, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination, in a carpet-beatin g machine, of the casing, rock-shafts therein carrying beaters, springs and projections attached to said rock-shafts, a transverse shaft having projections arranged to engage with the pro j ections on the rock-shafts, a driving or crank shaft, and a connection between said two lastmentioned shafts, substantially as set forth.

0. The combination, in a carpet-beating machine, of a casing having an open bottom side arranged to rest upon a carpet on a floor, a rock-shaft carrying beaters arranged within said casing above and in close proximity to said open lower side, a spring attached to said rock-shaft, arranged to force it back to position where the beaterswill operate on the carpet, an arm or projection also on said rockshaft, and mechanism arranged to engage intermittingly with said projection, and thereby rotate said rock-shaft in one direction while said spring operates to move it in the other, substantially as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 19th day of August, A. D. 1890.

JOHN L. VAGNER. [L. s]

IVitnesses:

CHESTER BRADFORD, ERNEST W. BRADFORD. 

